Japan tiptoes toward casinos

Legislators took another small step toward legalizing casinos in Japan this week. Backers hope so-called integrated resorts will open in time for the 2020 Olympics, but the political and bureaucratic process will be a marathon, not a sprint.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.